For Jeremiah Law, youth ministry was always in the plan. After receiving his undergraduate degree in youth ministry, he joined CYMT to pursue a master’s and get the support he needed to start his first job as a youth pastor.
What wasn’t in the plan was the hurricane. A month into Jeremiah’s residency at The Foundry Church in Houston, the city was devastated by Hurricane Harvey. Churches like Jeremiah’s, which managed to avoid destruction, quickly turned into emergency shelters, supply depots, and organizing centers for relief efforts.
In a time when he would have been planning fall kick-offs, Jeremiah found himself distributing bottled water and clearing out rubble. During this unexpected season, he says he learned how to respond with simple and faithful obedience to what God calls him to.
Houston rebuilt itself after the hurricane and Jeremiah’s church grew — a vibrant, triple-digit ministry with deep ties to the city. Then another major road bump hit in early 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought a host of new challenges to youth ministry, and with these challenges came new lessons. For Jeremiah, one of those lessons was that opportunities to minister aren’t dependent on high attendance.
Opportunities to minister aren’t dependent on high attendance.
“There was a time in my ministry that I would have freaked out if numbers were low,” Jeremiah reflected. Now, he says, “I’ve had 5 kids in the room and I’ve had 150 kids in the room, and I know they can both be good ministry.”
Later that year, Jeremiah graduated from the Center for Youth Ministry Training and he still serves at The Foundry Church today. He has now seen an entire class of students come and go. With each new year, he feels his calling to the city and church grow deeper, and he knows there is still more for him to learn in this community.
In practicing faithful obedience to the call, he taught the young people in his ministry to do the same.
CYMT’s vision is to equip youth pastors with the support they need to stick it out when ministry gets challenging, and the skills required to make a lasting impact without burning out. When asked how CYMT shaped his ministry, Jeremiah said consistency was one of the most powerful benefits it offered. Committing to complete the three-year program helped him see the value of investing deeply in one place, instead of chasing success at one church after another.
Jeremiah is an incredible example of the type of youth pastor CYMT exists to develop. While his ministry weathered extreme ups and downs, he continued to trust God and lean on his support network. In practicing faithful obedience to the call, he taught the young people in his ministry to do the same.
Learn more about CYMT’s graduate residency program and how you can apply, here.